Tuesday, February 24, 2015

confidentiality

We know you want details. Really, we know. But you're just going to have to wait.

Soon after we matched with our child, we were called into the agency to do the next wave of paperwork. (So. Much. Paperwork.) At the time we were told that we would be required to sign a confidentiality agreement. Meaning, we cannot share any information about our child until we take her into custody. What?! Just when we're ready to shout if from the rooftops, we're told we have to keep a lid on our daughter's beautiful face until we bring her home?! Yes, exactly.

So what can we tell you? Well, first, we chose to adopt from China. Within the first couple weeks we had it narrowed down to China, India and the Democratic Republic of Congo. There are a lot of reasons we finally decided on China, but we'll save the top reason for another post. She's from Southern China, near the Canton region. Fortunately, we'll still be able to use our Mandarin!

The next critical detail: it's a girl. And that was quite the shock to us. About 90% of those who adopt (anywhere) will only accept the match of a girl child. This means lots of boys get left behind. The children in Chinese orphanages are about half and half. We decided early on that we'd be happy to welcome a girl or boy into our family. We were told that because people wait in line for years for girls, we'd very likely be bringing home a boy. Great! So, for months we've been preparing to bring home a son. And then we found out that, in fact, we had matched with a girl.

What else? She'll be about 18 months when we bring her home. She's tiny but has very well-developed social skills. And she doesn't like it when anyone tries to take a toy away. We're thinking Frankie's going to have a rough time adjusting.

Beyond that, we don't actually have much more information. We probably won't be posting any pictures to social media when we do bring her home, so you'll just have to come visit!